Simple Automation Tips to help you Re-gain Work/Life Balance

automation Simple Automation Tips to Help You Regain Your Work-Life Balance

Maybe you’ve bought into the dream of marketing automation, you know, the one where you set it up once and forget it, hit the easy button, and retire to the beach sipping margaritas. Or perhaps your experience is the opposite, where you are simply overwhelmed with all the tasks that need to be addressed with an online business, and can barely breathe.

The reality lies somewhere between these extremes. Unless you truly have gotten it together and are drowning in your own business, you likely need some help with regaining a sensible and profitable work-life balance. Let’s look at ways we can do this.

Some cool tools that can help with marketing automation

Hootsuite – Like it or not, social media is a vital part of your business going forward. Hootsuite helps you manage your social media marketing by aggregating all your important social accounts in one place, enabling you to respond with more agility, and saving hours of time.

Email autoresponders – One of the most lethal and useful tools in an online business arsenal is your email autoresponder. This keeps your brand in front of prospects on a regular basis, with practically no effort on your part, save setting it up once. A must-have!

IFTTT – If this, then that, is an ingenious tool (free) that works on formulas, or “recipes,” you create, such as “If I’m tagged in a photo on Facebook, then send me a text message.” IFTTT is tied into the web-based accounts that you chose to authorize, and will check for new data every 15 minutes unless you’ve chosen to make this instant.

Zapier – A paid service much like IFTTT, but with a few more premium features.

Google Alerts, Hangouts, Drive, Communities – The Google suite of tools is free and can be extremely useful for saving time and organizing teamwork. You can collaborate on work within Drive, Hangouts and Communities are terrific ways to synch up with team members and connect with prospects.

Best practices for automating parts of your online business

Autoposting – Can be useful for scheduling blog posts or other content.

Outsourcing – You can’t do it all. Delegate to staff, or hire outside outsourcers to handle tasks that you absolutely don’t have to do. Some good places to locate affordable outsourcing help are Odesk, Elance, and Fiverr.

Hire a virtual assistant – This can free you up in many ways, and allow you to focus on parts of your business you really need to attend to.

Worst practices (avoid these!)

Autoposting – Can be abused! Don’t schedule a load of mediocre or worse, poor content to be posted to your sites. This will hurt more than help.

Social Oomph – Though quite popular, this is one of the worst aspects of social media. No one wants to read a litany of quotes from dead men. This is the antithesis of “social” media.

Not paying attention – While it’s nice to have automated systems in place, that’s no excuse to not pay attention. Unanswered comments, questions and replies can lead to a reputation management problem, so keep an eye on it with the tools we’ve presented here!

Marketing Automation

5-13-marketing-automationUse these marketing automation tools to free up time and money

Are there just not enough of you? Are you feeling not only overwhelmed with the mountain of tasks that lie before you daily, but also more than a little afraid that things are slipping through the cracks? You’re not the only one. Because of the complexity and the sheer number of moving parts that go into online marketing in multiple channels these days, you absolutely need to employ some measure of marketing automation, or you may find it tough to compete. Let’s take a look at some real time savers.

Tools for marketing automation

There are oodles of great tools out there that you can spend your time and money on, for our purposes here I’m going to consentrate on three areas that can be gigantic time sucks and possess the most potential for return on investment.

Email autoresponder company – This is very likely the most vital piece to automate, for if you’re not utilizing an autoresponder to take care of your email marketing, you may as well not be doing it at all. Loading up your autoresponder with personalized content and marketing emails offers your customers and prospects the sense that they are being well taken care of. There are a many great email autoresponder companies out there, today some of the best are AWeber, GetResponse, iContact, and MailChimp.

Managing social media – Keeping your finger on the pulse of numerous social media accounts daily is not just a full time gig, but a hard one at that. You should utilize some sort of tool, and there are several good ones out there which allow you to keep track of mentions, shares, Tweets and even allow you to post to your social platforms. Look into HootSuite, TweetDeck and Buffer.

Automate tasks – As we all know there are many small tasks that require attention daily, or the entire house of cards may collapse! A few of the better tools to come down the pike in recent years are the development of task masters like IFTTT and Zapier. These tools, (similar in intent and application) can be lifesavers when it comes to automating tasks between two different services. Very handy, indeed!

Make sure to not let customer and prospects slip through the cracks with all your automation. Being there for effective customer service is a vital piece of business too!

A Thankful Thought a Day Can MAKE Your Day!

Gratitude is not just to be reserved for Thanksgiving. Why not recognize and appreciate the abundance in your life each day?

I know, I know. You’ve probably heard many people discuss gratitude and how it can raise your vibration, and how writing in your gratitude journal helps to create more gratitude. But I wanted to try something even simpler.

I tried an experiment this month. A simple experiment of noticing one thing I was thankful for each day during the month of November. Something good that happened, a nice thought or person I recognized, or a joyful surprise that came into my life.

But I didn’t just notice. I WROTE IT DOWN on my calendar. I used colorful washi tape to write on so the appreciation could be easily seen. And guess what happened?

My joy was multiplied. And more good things started happening to me! (You may not believe it until you try it for yourself) Really, it changed the way I look at things and that made all the good things pop forward more easily. I mean, sure I still had the challenges and not-so-great stuff to deal with, but somehow that got a little easier, too.

“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.” Margaret Cousins

Will you try this experiment? Let me know what changes YOU notice in your life!
Have a Happy and Abundant Thanksgiving all year round!

 

George Washington – You’re Quite A Character

This is the month where we all think about, and pay homage to, how our great country started, and about all our Founding Father’s did to make it such a great place to live. It is because of their courage and sacrifices that we can work hard to make our own way, and open up our own businesses! Let’s say “Thanks” with a great inspirational story about our country’s  first Father! Written by Steve Allen.

 

George Washington – You’re Quite A Character

When someone remarks:  “Tom, you’re quite a character,” it can be good or not so good. That phrase falls under the 10th usage of the word ‘character’ in the Webster’s Dictionary. Used that way it conveys to the mind that such a person is one who attracts attention because he is different.

George Washington did attract attention because he WAS different. In addition, George Washington was a “man of character.”  Meaning he had moral strength. Most of his strengths were developed by him because of his self control. He worked at becoming a man of character.

In his youth, George recognized that he had several shortcomings or character flaws. For example, he had a troublesome temper. He learned early on that his temper could control him or he could control his temper. He made the conscious decision that he would control his temper.

He was determined to take control of his character in many other ways as well. He was extraordinarily successful in this project for control of the attributes of his disposition and personality.

As I was attempting to write this article, I decided to list a few of the distinguishing character traits demonstrated by the Father of Our Country. Here are a few I jotted down randomly: Honest, humble, patient, resourceful, loyal, courteous, brave, intelligent, determined, reverent, open-minded, decisive, civil, courageous, committed, trustworthy, modest, clean, obedient to authority, and he possessed an overwhelming sense of rectitude, morality and goodness. And that’s just my short list!

Thomas Jefferson said of Washington: “Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every condition, was maturely weighed, refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity (blood relationship), of friendship or hatred being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, good, and a great man.”

I am going to break with my usual disinclination to recommend books (other than “Founding Fathers–Uncommon Heroes,” by Steven W. Allen) and tell you that you should acquire and read “Being George Washington” by Glenn Beck, 2011.

“Being George Washington” is a marvelous book telling and teaching you how George became such a model of excellence. And it accomplishes this through amazing accounts of George’s life–not through preaching, chastisement, or sermonizing–but by gentleness and with new information. It’s not difficult to read and it is quite enjoyable.

Get it, read it, enjoy it, and you’ll soon be on your way to improving your own character.||

Inspiration from a Cough Drop?

Well, they say you can find inspiration anywhere, right?
But this is just what I needed at a time when I needed it!

I was having some allergy-like symptoms and I knew that
I needed to be at my best this week because I had a webinar
to present on Wednesday and a full week of client appointments.

So I got myself a little extra vitamin C. Have you ever
tried these Halls Defense Vitamin C drops?

Well, when I opened one, I found a nice surprise: some positive
affirmations printed right on the outside of the wrapper!
Sayings like:

“You can do it and you know it.”
“Nothing you can’t handle.”
“Go for it.”
“Power through!”
“Tough is your middle name.”
and “Buckle down and push forth!”

I got a little chuckle out of that, but it
really made an impression. And, you might laugh,
but I kept every one of those little wrappers!

It made me think of the video of Jessica that we had on our blog once before.
If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to watch it.

In the mean time, be amazing today!

Please share a comment below on how you have been inspired lately.

Until Next Time,

Kari VanNoy
President, Just A Minute LLC

Are you Horizontal or Vertical?

Are You A Vertical or a Horizontal Thinker? The Way You Think Can Make All the Difference…

Funny the things you remember…

Many many years ago while in college, I learn this concept. And it has stuck with me all these years.

My professor asked, “Are you a vertical or horizontal thinker?”

Huh????

Let me explain what each is…..then you can decide.

Vertical Thinkers

A vertical thinker thinks of business — and life for that matter — as a ladder you climb. There is only room for one at the top. In order to get to the top, you have to climb over others and push others down.

If you are a vertical thinker, back biting and back stabbing are common. Pointing blame at others, filing lawsuits to bring others down, and making yourself look good at other’s expense are the norm.

Just recently it was election time. The mud slinging was rampant….a sure sign of vertical thinking.

Me. Me. Me. I must make it to the top. That’s all that is important.

Horizontal Thinkers

Horizontal thinkers on the other hand see the world as a vast space where everyone can be at the top together. Everyone can grab hands and reach the summit, helping one person along here and another person along there. The important thing is for everyone to make it to the top.

Everyone helps everyone.

How do YOU think?

Comment below and tell us about your encounters with Vertical Thinkers.

Are You Leading Your Company With Your “WHY”?

All the great inspiring leaders in the world, all think, act and communicate in the exact same way…. and it’s the exact opposite from everyone else.

In this transformational 18 minute video, Simon Sinek teaches us his “golden circle” theory…and how you can be the inspirational action leader in your company.

This is an important video for us all.

Simon Sinek….
TEDx Puget Sound speaker – Simon Sinek – Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action

Just A Minute LLC loves the Wisdom of Will Smith

I recently viewed this inspiring video of Will Smith. Sit back, relax and take the next 10 minutes to watch this:

My favorite quote is this one:

“I want to do good. I want the world to be a better place because I was here…..If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by  making other people’s life better.”

At Just A Minute, LLC we are working to make your life better by making it easier to keep your minutes and resolutions up to date. And that in turn helps you keep your company protected. We know you work hard for your company….and we care.